"What..." I call out, the pain finally beginning to die down as I look on at what I could only describe as the unthinkable.
The surrounding cobblestone made visible through night vision began to warp, its rigid edges made a wavy semisolid as it procured a trickle, drooping more and more as I can only look on in confoundment.
Patter, pat, pat.
Despite there being no visible ceilings, the sound of the pattering of rain reverberated as a storm of liquid cobblestone whirled, the smell of iron attacking my nostrils to such a degree that I could only grimace in response and look on with even worse perplexion.
As the drops of earth begin to darken in complexion, the irony hearth hastens its pursuit on my sense of smell as it begins to appropriate an aroma like the collection of mud on a rainy day.
"Dirt? What the hell is happening..."
The puzzling onslaught of liquified earth roars in intensity, developing even more volume as it adopts qualities similar to that of hail, the conglomerate of earths bunching up to form single 'globs'.
Still on the ground from my previous writhing, I reposition myself upright to get off the ground in response to the liquid earth beginning to wet my lower appendages.
Subsequently, the earth begins to collect on the ground, inching its way up as it barely touches my furthest toe, then up to my ankle, making its way all the way towards my knee before panic begins to settle.
"H-hey!"
Despite my clear calls of desperation, the hail continues its rage as the pool of earth grows greater and greater in height.
"Wait, I can't swim!"
The pool grew larger and larger, eventually reaching the height of my head as I begin to claw at the water, my squirming a feeble attempt to regain control.
However, the more I claw out for air, the less control I have, and thus, the less air I can reach for in gasps.
A pit forms in my stomach--the abyss so deep that for a split second you could've fooled me into believing I didn't have one--as air become more scarce. Eventually, the pool is too high for me to claw out of, the gasps of air I'd been relying on now discarded entirely.
If I wasn't surrounded in earthy sludge, tears might've been forming in my eyes as my thoughts again went to Alric, the fiend making me go through all of this. Tears of anger, resentment as the roaring flames of vengeance makes itself known.
As the pool's even greater height makes the light emanating from the ceiling defunct, I am only surrounded by darkness. Unsure of what down and up are, I relinquish all attempts to gain control.
It's times like these that I wish I took swimming lessons.
The pitch darkness obfuscating my vision and the liquidity of the earth depriving me of my senses, I'm left completely uncertain as to whether or not I'm even still conscious.
Thought flickering in and out, I concentrate the last of my thoughts on my fate and who caused it...
No, this isn't it!
Looking on at my status window, I take a look at my MP bar. 11/120.
Not very much, but enough.
With equilibrium already being established due to my lack of flailing around, I concentrate as much of my energy as able into energy allocation, applying my feet with additional mana.
Swirl!
The sheer force of the flicking of my empowered feet generating a displacement of earth so great that a vortex begins to form, the shockwave is so powerful that the earth surrounding me is thrusting outwards towards the surface at mind-bogglingly fast speeds.
I, on the other hand, was also on the up and up.
Blasting my way through the pool of earth, I almost instantaneously make my way to the surface, light again tickling my eyes as a sense of freedom is effectuated.
The resultant vortex just barely hanging onto me in the air before falling short by a few feet, I gasp for air, finally able to cling onto life.
As exhilarating as the breath of fresh air was, my solace is instantly transformed into despair as gravity hits both of me and the vortex at exactly the same time as I begin my freefall back to the earth.
Desperately flailing in the air, I instantly take note of an equally perplexing occurrence.
Behind where the cobblestone was is a black, obsidian-like material. The earthy liquid covering the floor of the labyrinth began to slither its way up the black walls, reaching out for the top of whatever this place was.
The topmost liquified earth in the direction I'm facing also began shifting in hue from a silvery-brown to a deeper blue as translucence begins to form, almost like ice.
As I plop back into the liquid, I'm caught in a strange whirlpool that was staying stagnant in intensity, isolating my movements and leaving me helpless.
Not fighting back, I peek my head out as the volume of the liquid continues decreasing--presumably to return to the walls. I close my eyes as the intense velocities fling me from left to right repeatedly at blistering pace.
Eventually, I come to a complete halt as I again meet the ground, the liquid enshrouding me completely spread out.
Befuddled by the previous happenings, I look on at the new environment, beyond stupefied at the landscape.
"You have entered a C Rank Biome."